Wounded veterans group seeks to increase numbers

Wounded veterans group seeks to increase numbers
By Kevin Haney

Like most people, Sam Neely knew only of the Purple Heart organization through its advertisements for donations of cars and clothing.

It took a chance encounter some 11 years ago in a New Britain Township supermarket to learn he had a personal connection with the national group, of which the full name is the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

The charity is run by recipients of the Purple Heart, awarded to military veterans who are wounded in combat, to help all combat veterans. 
Neely earned a Purple Heart during the Korean War, but had never heard of the group until that chance meeting with another Purple Heart recipient at the supermarket.
“I had no idea what the Military Order of the Purple Heart was,” said Neely, of Montgomery Township.
Now Neely and others members of the local order’s chapter want to enlist younger, more recent Purple Heart recipients in the organization, to continue its charitable work.
The group will hold a breakfast meeting Oct. 9 at the Willow Grove VFW Post 3612 for all Purple Heart recipients.
Neely himself first saw combat in World War II throughout Europe, landing on the beaches of Normandy, France, in the late hours of the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. Neely made it across Europe without being hurt.
It was seven years later, in September 1951, as a second lieutenant in the Army 1st Calvary Division, that Neely was shot in a battle at Yon Chon, Korea.
Neely had been called up from reserve training as a Penn State student to fight in his second war.
His wound, which caused him to lose substantial motor functions in his left hand and arms, ended his time in combat.
He returned home with his Purple Heart, then went to work as a sales representative with several organizations over the years, including 15 years with the public television station in Allentown.
Members of the Sergeant William R. Grafe Chapter, to which Neely belongs, include past medal recipients now living in Bucks and Montgomery counties. They meet for lunch the third Wednesday of each month at noon at the Willow Grove VFW post at Moreland Road and Center Avenue in Upper Moreland.
The chapter is named after a Philadelphia man killed in Normandy, France, in August 1944 during World War II.
It has raised $35,000 since 1998 for various veteran charities, including social work outreach, expenses at the Southeast Pennsylvania Veterans Center assisted living community in Spring City, Chester County, and the Comfort House residence at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Philadelphia.
It depends primarily on the generosity of the public, Neely said.
“We do it the hard way – out in shopping centers,” he explained.
Morris Golty, one of the chapter’s World War II veterans from Warminster, has become particularly adept at raising funds, Neely said, bringing in up to $3,000 in 50 hours of volunteer work.
But another important mission for the chapter is strictly social, Neely noted, “having the fellowship and the comradeship of people in similar situations.”
New members are invited to speak about the circumstances which resulted in their medals, and most do, occasionally with people getting emotional, sometimes recalling the violence, bloodshed and terror of war.
But the group mainly wants to share good times, Neely said, “We try to keep our meetings upbeat.”
The chapter holds a program each year on George Washington’s birthday, honoring the man who established the Purple Heart in 1782 to honor soldiers wounded in the Revolutionary War.
“We honor George each year,” he quipped.
“We’d like to see the organization carry on,” said Neely, who’s heading the chapter’s outreach effort. With 25,000 military veterans in Montgomery County alone, Neely estimated there are several hundred Purple Heart winners who could join the chapter. The chapter is looking particularly for Vietnam War veterans to continue the order’s work.
It’s waiving the order’s lifetime fee, ranging up to $125 depending on age, until Oct. 3.
Purple Heart recipients wishing to join the chapter may call the chapter at 1-800-879-0336. The chapter will hold a free breakfast for all medal winners at 10 a.m. Oct. 9 at the Willow Grove VFW post, Moreland Road and Center Avenue.